Friday, May 31, 2013

Hello all!
It is my great sadness to announce that our radio show 'Prog & Roll' is reaching its end.
Due to some major changes to our lifes, we can't continue doing it any more...
We hope that we will be able to start again after a few months, but I couldn't bet on it.
So here's what's going to happen at our next two shows:SUNDAY 2/6: We will have our big competition for 'The song of the month'. We have 11 great songs in the list that will fight for the title. As usual, our audience will be grading the songs, and according to their grades, we will calculate each song's average score, and at the end of our show we will find out the winner. That competition will take place during the second hour. The first hour we will have our normal program.SUNDAY 9/6: This will be the last Prog & Roll, and we want to do something special. First of all, it will last 2.5 hours instead of 2. Further than this, we thought as a 'thank you' to do the following: We will ask from our audience, and each one of you that believes he/she will be able to listen to us, to ask for 1 song that he/she would like to listen that night. We will play all the requested songs, and we will make a special announcement for each song. But except the requests we will prepare a really super playlist!
We plan to make that night really special for everybody who will be there with us.
So, if you think that you want to join us on our special last radio show, you can send us the song that you would like to listen to this e-mail adress: GFreedomTeam@gmail.comI will write another post next week about this last show, but I wanted to inform you about all these things beforehand.
Thank you very much!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

PETER HAMMILL: Fool's Mate (1971)Fool's Mate was released in 1971, and it was the first solo album Peter Hammill ever recorded. The title is a reference in both Chess and Tarot cards. The album was recorded in 1971 in the the midst of one of Van Der Graaf's most creative periods. Peter Hammill decided to record this album in order to include some of his songs that were too short or too simple than the material Van Der Graaf were using for their records.
On the record sleeve there is a note written by Peter Hammill declaring the following:
"This isn't intended to be any kind of statement of my present musical
position, but at the same time, it is an album which involves a great deal of
me, the person, basically a return to the roots."The record contains 12 songs in total, which in their majority are based in piano and acoustic guitar. There are many wonderfull melodic and sad moments in this record, indicating the personal feelings of Peter Hammill. The lyrics are simpler and not so much sophisticated as they are in his later works, but that doesn't seem to be any kind of problem. (For me at least).
The musicians that helped him in the recordings, are the members of Van Der Graaf Generator, plus a couple of members from the folk band Lindisfane, and with the addition of the guitarist Robert Fripp. (King Crimson).
The UK music press had a very positive approach on Fool's Mate, and a few music magazines named it as the 'The Album of the Year'.
Fool's Mate is one of my most favorite records of Peter Hammill's solo career, and in my opinion the best moments here are the songs: Candle, Happy, Vision & The Birds.
Here you can see the whole playlist of the album, and on the following video's you can listen to a couple of songs. Fool's Mate (1971)
"Imperial Zeppelin"
"Candle" - 4:16
"Happy" - 2:36
"Solitude" - 4:56
"Vision" - 3:13
"Re-Awakening" - 4:01
"Sunshine" - 3:56
"Child" - 4:25
"Summer Song (In The Autumn)" - 2:13
"Viking" - 4:44
"The Birds" - 3:38
"I Once Wrote Some Poems"

Monday, May 27, 2013

Last night we had one more Prog & Roll radio show.
I want to believe that we played some good music, and our listeners enjoy it. It seemed so at least...
Once more, we played our little game, by asking to our audience grade the songs we play, and according to their grades every Monday morning I'm presenting here each show's Top-5 songs.
And here is last night's Top-5:

1. Blue Oyster Cult: Astronomy2. Jethro Tull: Bouree3. Aphrodite's Child: The 4 Horsemen4. The Beatles: While my Guitar Gently Weeps5. The Enid: One and the Many

From these 5 songs, the first 4 achieved to gather the average number that is needed in order to be able to participate to the final stage of the competition for 'The Song of the Month', that will take place on next Sunday's show. So, on next Sunday 2/6/2013 prepare yourselves for a great radio show! On the first hour we will have our usual program, but on the second hour we will have the big contest, on which our audience will choose The Song of the Month. We have 12 great songs in our list, and from those 12 songs one will be the winner. On next Sunday at the end of our show we will know which one.
And here I'm posting the whole playlist from last night's Prog & Roll:

Saturday, May 25, 2013

This afternoon GFreedom Team will present the whole album from the not-so-famous Tynisian (!) band MYRATH.
Myrath is a Progressive Metal band, with 3 records so far, all of them good. They play a weird blend of heavy metal mixed with local folk rhythms. I found their music very interesting and rather unique. We will present their last album that was released in 2011.
So, this afternoon if you are in the mood for some interesting music, join us.
You can listen to us by clicking to this link: Just In Case Prog Radio
I'm just informing you that this in not a live show with microphones etc. We will be online though at the time of the presentation, chatting through the chatbox, giving info when needen etc... Just a relaxing hour listening to a very interesting record.The presentation starts at 18.00GMT (20.00 Greek Time).
And for those who never heard of Myrath before, here's the official video from a song included in the album we will be presenting tonight.
Thank you... :)

Good morning folks!
Another Saturday is here, and I'm writing the usual Juke Box post.
In this last week I listened to a lot of music, and once more it was hard for me to choose only 5 songs.
But I think I made it finally! :)
So, here are the 5 songs that I believe were the best:

And as usual, I strongly recommend and encourage anyone who is in the mood for it, to write as a comment here or at Google+ his/hers Top-5 songs or records from this last week. It's always fun and interesting to see what kind of music other people listen in their own time...
Thank you! :)

Friday, May 24, 2013

History has not been kind to this band. And
it’s a real pity, because Ultimate Spinach were one of the most creative bands
of the Psychedelic era. I think their bad fortune started with the fact that
they weren’t from San Fransisco, which at that time was the centre of all this
Psychedelic movement in America. Instead, they were from Boston, a more
conservative city, whatever that means…
Their record company MGM tried to promote a few bands from Boston as the
new Psychedelic scene in contrast with the major bands of that time,which were from the San Fransisco area. But the problem was that with the
exception of Ultimate Spinach and maybe Bacon Street Union, all the others were
b-class bands. And that’s where this whole project failed.

Ultimate Spinach were formed and built around the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ian Bruce Douglas in 1967. In
the next year (1968) they released two records, and then the band almost
disbanded when all the original members left. The only exception was the singer
Barbara Hudgon, who kept the name and re-formed the band.

As you can see, this
time I’m writing about two records instead of one. And that’s because I can’t
really separate them. I feel as though they are kind of one item. After all they were
released in a few months period both of them. Their only major difference is
that in the second record the band tried to play in a more technical way, by
having longer and more complicated compositions, than the first one.

Their sound
(especially in the first record) is something between The Doors and Jefferson
Airplane, but includes bigger doses of Psychedelic sounds. Many instruments
were used here, with flute, sitar, harpsicord, and the electronic Theremin
being some of them. The voice of their singer Barbara Huddgon fits perfectly to
their sound, and it reminds the voices of Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) and
Sonja Kristina (Curved Air) from time to time.

Almost all the song
in the first record are excellent examples of Psychedelic Rock, but the highlight of the record is definetely the 8-minute-long (Ballad of ) Hipp Death Goddess. (This song should have been in the pantheon of Psychedelic music, next to
songs like ‘White Rabbit’.In my opinion at least).

Their second record
‘Behold and See’ was released a few months later, and the band tried to make a
‘turn’ to a more sophisticated sound. With only 7 songs, most of them long
enough for a Psychedelic band, the record didn’t have any chance to succeed.
Here you can find many really great songs, with ‘Jazz Thing’ and ‘Fragmentary
March of Green’ being two of them.

Concluding this
post, I want to say that these two records are highly recommended to any fan of
Rock music, and not just the fans of Psychedelia.

I’m posting here a couple of videos as well, for you to get
an idea about the band…

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Doors co-founder
and keyboardist Ray Manzarek died last night in Rosenheim, Germany after a long
battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74.

To be honest,
I just heard the sad news. So I collected a few info about his life and his
work from internet sites, and I’m just copy them here. No time to make a big
research and write something on my own I’m affraid. Either way, the result is the same. A very big
and respected musician in Rock music is no more walking this Earth…

R.I.P
Raymond Daniel Manzarek…

Manzarek
grew up in Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles in 1962 to study film at UCLA. It
was there he first met Doors singer Jim Morrison, though they didn't talk about
forming a band until they bumped into each other on a beach in Venice,
California in the summer of 1965 and Morrison told Manzarek that he had been
working on some music. "And there it was!" Manzarek wrote in his 1998
biography, Light My Fire. "It dropped quite simply, quite
innocently from his lips, but it changed our collective destinies."

They quickly
teamed up with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger and began
playing gigs around Los Angeles. About a year later, the Doors recorded their
debut album for Elektra Records. "We knew once people heard us, we'd be
unstoppable," Manzarek wrote in his memoir. "We knew what the people
wanted: the same thing the Doors wanted. Freedom."

The Doors
didn't have a bassist, so Manzarek often played the bass parts on his Fender
Rhodes piano. He also played a Vox Continental organ, which can be heard on the
famous intro to "Light My Fire" and numerous other Doors classics.
The group shared credit on most songs and split all profits evenly.

The group
carried on for two more albums after Jim Morrison died in July of 1971, but
they split in 1973. Manzarek remained extremely busy, producing albums for X
and playing with Iggy Pop, Echo and the Bunnymen and others. In 2002, he began
touring as the Doors of the 21st Century with Krieger and Cult frontman Ian
Astbury. Doors drummer John Densmore filed a lawsuit over the use of the name
and it lead to a legal battle.

On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died after a long battle with bile duct cancer at a hospital in Rosenheim,
Germany, aged 74. Robby Krieger said, “I was deeply saddened to hear about the
passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today. I'm just glad to have
been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a
huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”John Densmore
said, "There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to
support Jim Morrison's words. Ray, I felt totally in sync with you musically.
It was like we were of one mind, holding down the foundation for Robby and Jim
to float on top of. I will miss my musical brother."

Monday, May 20, 2013

Last night GFreedom Team presented another Prog & Roll radio show, and today I'm going to write here a few things about it.
We started our program with some electronic sounds, which to be honest I don't think they were
appreciated by our listeners. After that, we changed the music style and we played songs in the style we usually play in our show. In the meantime more people were logging slowly slowly, and they created a nice warm atmosphere once more. This time the conversations in the chatbox were more serious, and we didn't have so much fun like other times. But because of this I believe everybody was more cool, and the people seemed to grade the songs more serious. That's the impression I had at least...
In our playlist we had 19 songs in total, and from many different kinds of music. We had Electronic, Neo-Prog, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Classic Progressice Rock, Prog Folk etc...
Also last night we had our music contest once more. We played a cover verion of Pink Floyd's song 'In the Flesh', and we were asking the name of the cover band. The right answer was 'Dream Theater' and one of our listeners found it rather fast I must say.
Once more we played our little 'game' by asking our audience to grade the songs we play, and according to their grades here's last night's Top-5 songs:

From these 5 songs only the first two achieved to gather the average points thar are needed in order to enter the list with the songs that will compete for 'The Song of the month'. Black Sabbath's song was very close to this number, so we will maybe use it in case we don't have too many songs for the final stage of the competition.
And here you can see the whole playlist from last night's Prog & Roll:

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Good Morning all! :) As many of you know already, every Saturday I'm writing here a post in the 'Juke Box' series, which is my Top-5 songs from the past week. From all the music I'm listening every week, I choose the best 5 songs
according to my likings, and I'm posting them here. The actual purpose is to get an idea what I listen and what I like, and also in some occasions find some songs you maybe didn't know 'till now.
So without further delay, these are my Top-5 for this last week:

Galahad: This Life Could be my Last (Empires Never Last) - 2007Black Sabbath: Megalomania (Sabotage) - 1975Camel: The Eyes of Ireland (Harbour of Tears) - 1996Tim Buckley: Song to the Siren (Starsailor) - 1970Pink Floyd: In the Flesh (Part.2) (O.S.T: The Wall) - 1982

If any of you in in the mood he/she can write here as a comment, (or at G+) your favorite songs or albums from this past week. It doesn't really matter if they are Rock or Pop or something else. The point is to exchange our musical tastes and likings.
Thank you all, and have a nice Weekend! :)

Friday, May 17, 2013

TIM BUCKLEY: Goodbye & Hello (1967) Tim Buckley was one of the greatest talents and unique voices in Rock music.He was born on February 1947 in Washington D.C on Valentine's day, and his full name was Timothy Charles Buckley III.He discovered music since his early years thanks to his entire family who were big fans of Jazz music. (Exception was his father who was mostly into country music).At the age of 13 he learn to play banjo, he formed his first band, and he decided that he will dedicate his life to music. And so he did. He released his first record under his name in 1966 and it was an excellent example of Rock music with many psychedelic colors, andt it was influenced mostly by Folk. After that first effort it was the time to show to the world his true talent. And he did, with the release of his second recond 'Goodbye & Hello'. At the time of the release he was 20 years old. (On a personal note, I bought this vinyl record when I was about 16 or 17 years old, and I immediately fell in love with it! I loved his bizarre but wonderful voice, the beautiful and melancholic music, and that was just the start. I bought almost all of his records finally, but Goodbye & Hello will always have a special place in my heart). Goodbye & Hello was recorded in spring of 1967 and it was released on August of the same year.Being a truly wonderful album it is often cited as Tim Buckley's ultimate music statement. Unfortunately failed in the market both in United States and Europe. (The best ranking it achieved in the charts was at #171 in USA)The record contains 10 songs in total and here you can find some of Buckley's strongest moments.Songs like 'Pleasant Street', 'One I was', 'Phantasmagoria in two', 'Goodbye & Hello' and 'Morning Glory' are considered classics. For those who are interested to discover the beauty of Tim Buckley's music this record should definetely be the starting point!If I have to recommend some of his other albums, these would be: Tim Buckley (1966), Greetings from L.A (1972) and Look at the Fool (1974). In the following videos you can listen to the songs 'Phantasmagoria in two' and 'Pleasant Street'.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Hello everybody! I want to inform you that tonight GFreedom Team will be hosting a special event on JustIn Case Prog Radio.
In the 'Full Album Hour' of the radio station, we will present the soundtrack of the movie 'The Wall' (1982).
The movie was filmed by Alan Parker and in the basic role of 'Pink' we see Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats).
For the needs of the film a couple of new songs were recorded, and almost all of the songs in the album were re-recorded or remixed. So what you are going to listen is very different than the record you already know.
For example will you will hear Bob Geldof singing instead of Roger Waters. (And he gives a great performance as 'Pink!)
In my opinion it is an excellent record, and in some parts I dare to say better than the original. (For example in the song 'In the Flesh Part.2' where Bob Geldof literaly acts with his singing).
Some time ago, I posted on this blog a post about 'The Wall', so for some more info you can read that post if you want. You can read it by clicking here: http://gfreedomathina.blogspot.com/2012/04/pink-floyd-wall-starting-this-post-i.html
Anyway, the point is that tonight at 21.00 GMT (23.00 Greek time) if you log in at the radio station's site you will be able to listen to the whole album. But this is not a live show. That means that there will be no broadcast. But GFreedom Team will be online and we will speak with the visitors through the chatbox, we will be providing info where needed etc...
I hope some of you will find that interesting, log in to listen, and maybe have a little chat altogether.
You can log in by clicking on this link: JustIn Case Prog Radio
Thank you in advance, and have a great day! :)

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Taylor’s
Universe is the project of the Danish composer & multi-instrumentalist
Robin Taylor.

The band is
active since 1993 & they released 12 albums so far, with ‘Worn out’ being
their most recent one.

The album
contains 6 songs and has a total running time of almost 43 minutes.

The music
style is mainly Avant-Garde/ Jazz and to be honest its musical style is not my
cup of tea. But despite that I found the listening of the album rather pleasant,
and it surprised me I must admit.

The album is
instrumental, with the only exception of a few voices in the song ‘Munich’, but
that’s something you can’t call ‘singing’.

The opening
song is called Floating Rats and together with “Cruelty in words” are maybe the
‘easiest’ songs to listen in this album. Also ‘Cruelty in words’ is maybe the
best song here. As for the weirdest song? That without a doubt is ‘Jens in
Afganistan’.

There are
several melodic passages in the songs, mostly with piano or keyboards among the
many Jazzy rhythms that can be found in every song.The first thing that is obvious to the
listener is the abundant use of wind instruments, such as Saxophones (alto
soprano & tenor) and trumpets.

Concluding this review I have to say that it
is an interesting album, and its main target are those who are fond of Jazz and
experimental releases.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any song from this record in YouTube to post here for you to listen...

Monday, May 13, 2013

Good morning! :)
Last night we had one more Prog & Roll radio show as we usually have on Sunday nights...
I must say that I really enjoyed it, despite the fact that this time our audience was smaller than usual, mostly because of the Euroleague's basketball big final game between Real Madrird and Olympiakos.
So I'm guessing many people from Greece stuck in front of their TV's to watch the game.
But further than this, I believe we put out a good show, played some very good music, and the conversations in the chatbox were more calm and more music-orientated just for a change. That gave us the chance to enjoy the music, rather than trying to catch up everythin that is going on in the chatbox.
As for the grading of the songs from our audience, I am also very pleased because once more all 5 songs in the Top-5 gathered very high average points & achieved to enter in our list for 'The Song of the Month' contest. Also a 6th song gathered the required average of 8.5 points. That means in simple words that 6 songs of last night's playlist were excellent according to our audience. And which are those songs?
You can see them here:1. David Bowie: Starman2. The Who: Won't Get Fooled Again3. Myrath: Merciless Times4. Pink Floyd: Goodbye Blue Sky5. Spock's Beard: On a Perfect Day (The 6th song that enters the list for the big contest for 'The Song of the month' is Procol Harum's 'Grand Hotel' performed Live with Orchestra & Choir)
And here you can see the whole playlist from last night's show:

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Hello folks!
It's another Saturday morning, and I'm sitting in front of my pc screen in order to write my best 5 songs from the week that just passed.
Usualy there are some great songs in my Top-5 lists, some known and some unknown. In case you don't know some of the songs in those lists, I recommend that you make a small research and listen to them. That's one of the reasons I'm writting these posts actually.
Anyway, here are the 5 songs that I chose as the best from all the songs I've listened this week:

The Who: Won't Get Fooled Again (Who's Next) - 1971Psychotic Waltz: I Remember (A Social Grace) - 1990Procol Harum: Grand Hotel (Live) (In Concert with the Danish National Orchestra & Choir) - 2009Country Joe & the Fish: Patt's Song (I-Feel-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die) (1967)Twisted Sister: Under the Blade (Under the Blade) - 1982
If any of you is in the mood for it, it would be great to write your most favorite songs (or albums) for this week. (As a comment in this blog or in G+). Doesn't matter what kind of music it is. The fun here is to see what other people are listening in their own free time...
Have a great Weekend! :)

Friday, May 10, 2013

This Sunday 12/5 GFreedom Team will present one more Prog & Roll Radio Show.
Last Sunday we gave ourselves a day off because it was the Orthodox Easter, therefore this will be the first radio show we will do on this month.
I just finished the playlist, and I must say that it contains many great songs. (22 in total).
We will play again many different kinds of music as usual, which means that our audience will listen to Prog-Metal, Fusion, Symphonic Prog, Neo-Prog, Classic Rock, etc...
I hope some of you will join us on Sunday night, and altogether will spend 2 nice hours full of music.
We have a rather active chatbox, so if you are in the mood you can say whatever you want to us.
I just want to remind you that 'Prog & Roll' is a live show, and the broadcasting is in English & Greek. The duration of the show is 2 hours, and it starts at 20.00GMT. (22.00 Greek time).
That's all for now, I hope to 'see' you there.
Thank you in advance! :)

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Almost a month ago, David Bowie decided to surprise everyone by releasing a new single on his 66th birthday, followed by his brand new album that was released a couple a weeks later.
Being a big fan of David Bowie, I couldn't resist. Truth is that I am a fan mostly of his early works, and I like a few of his later albums, but a new album from D.Bowie is always something very interesting for me. Well, not this time I'm afraid...
The bad news started with the single 'where are we now'. I found that song uninspired and shallow, and I let's not mention the really bad video clip. (You can read what I wrote in this blog about that song if you click here: David Bowie: Where are we now )
Let's take a look at the cover of the album... It is actually the cover of 'Heroes' with a blank square in the middle. hmmmm Ok, not really important I know. Symbolically it might mean "There are no heroes today." but would that be accurate? Or even more importantly, would that be "Bowie Original" enough?
Ok then, let's take a look at the music. (Which is important.)
I listened to the record 3-4 times before I decided that I should write a review. But before that, I made a small search in the web, reading other people's reviews. And there I was really surprised! When I saw many reviews with 4 & 5 stars (with 5 being the highest). And here is the question that I really wanted to ask to all those people: 'If you put 4 & 5 stars on this record, how many stars you would put to records like 'Ziggy Stardust', Space Oddity', 'Alladin Sane' etc? 20 stars? Because this is the actual difference!
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that this is a bad record, because it isn't. But it is not a good one either! (For my personal liking of course). Do you know what it is?
Well, if this record was a salad, I could say that the basic ingredients are the ones that were used in 'Hours' and 'Heathen', with a nostalgic dressing from 'Heroes'. I hope you get my point here...
The production is very good, the musicians are very good, but the inspiration is absent. So what we really have here is 14 songs that are not really good or really bad, but they are performed very good!
If this is one of your criterias for liking an album, then go ahead and buy it! As for the ones that want something more inspired, I suggest to listen to the record first, and decide later.
If I have to rate this record, I'm affraid I can't give more than 2.5 Stars. (out of 5).
I would really like to see comments from people here or at G+ about this record, just to see what are your thoughts on this album. (In case you know the songs of course.)
Here I will post 2 videos from this new album, so you can listen and have a small idea...

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Good morning folks!
Today it is Saturday so it is the time to post my usual Top-5 songs of this last week.
Truth is I am terrible busy these days, but I took sometime out of today's jammed program in order to post here my Top-5.
So here are the songs that were the best from all the songs I've listened in this last week:

Those were my best 5 songs folks, and if anyone wants he/she can write his/hers top-5 songs here as a comment, or at G+. It's fun to see other people likings...
That's all for now, see you all later! :)

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Good morning everybody!
According to Orthodox Christian religion this week is the Holy week, and on next Sunday it is Easter.
I don't know if I will be able to post anything here for the next 3-4 days, but I will try.
In the meantime, since today is Holy Thursday, I will post a few videos from something that I always listen a lot on these days of the year...
Here you can watch a few songs from the famous rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rise. (Yes yes, this is the one we did present on the radio show last Sunday).
So, enjoy some very nice songs from this movie...

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About Me

I was born in Athens Greece, and still live there with my wife and my son..
I was DJ in many rock bars and medium size clubs for many years,
therefore music is a very important part of my life. Im a motorcycles
fan, and enjoy travel a lot with my motorcycle. Lately me & my wife we are hosting an internet radio show, and I'm having a Blog on the side.Well, that's all for now... :)